This is quite an extensive article written in anticipation of the new Lucerne which I found fairly objective and it also brings up a few interesting points such as offering the supercharged 3.8 in the Lucerne. I don't know how knowledgeable this guy is to the future plans of the Lucerne but nobody here has really brought that up as even a potential option for the Lucerne.

The article seems to be friendly to GM but it also points of some weaknesses of the Lucerne that are pretty crucial, such as the Avalon getting their V6 to 5 more HP than Lucerne's V8.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stori...k.20db0e19.html

the avalon is 268 hp, tell this guy to check toyota.com

Yeah, this guy's facts are a little off. He says the Lucerne is slightly shorter than the Park Ave, being 204". The Lucerne is 203".

Mike, that's very true. Right there throws off any credibility for the guy. That is just something inexcusable- if you're going to match engines and Horsepower you always know your facts. Nowhere on Toyota.com or Edmunds.com or anywhere is the Avalon rated as 12 more HP than it is... which wouldn't be that big of a deal if that wasn't a specific reason on not to buy the Lucerne- because its engine is less powerful than the V6 Avalon... plus with the size being off on the Lucerne gives him less credibility. However the fact that the Avalon V6 is only 7 HP less than the Lucerne is a bit disappointing. I still wish the Lucerne V8 was more powerful.

I think the Lucerne's engine will give 95% of buyers as much power as they would ever want in a FWD application. It'd be nice if it had the higher output version, but then there'd be no reason to buy the DTS.

The Northstar is pretty much guaranteed to be a better all-around performer than the 3.5l in the Avalon.

Seems that the Northstar in the Lucerne is more for refinement than performance... I'd like to see it get more power (Of course) but then that would step on the toes of Cadillac (God forbid that happen)